Cutting corners could soon be allowed in Victoria as the city moves to legalize jaywalking.

"The Motor Vehicle Act says you can cross the street anywhere as long as you are not impeding traffic," Mayor Dean Fortin said.

"If it's clear and safe to do so you can cross. You don't need to cross at corners."

City councillors today will discuss the idea of amending its streets and traffic bylaw to allow pedestrians to cross the street mid-block in the downtown.

"Government Street is probably a classic example of what's happening and what the reality is out there," Fortin said.  read more »

Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin shakes hands with Mayor Fangfang Huang of Nanning, China at Victoria City Hall on Friday (July 9).

“We just signed an educational memorandum of understanding and we will send high school students from Nanning to Victoria to study,” said Huang. “Victoria high school students will also visit Nanning.”

Located in the Guangxi Zhuang province of China, Nanning boasts 6.5-million residents.

Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin said ties between the two communities could prove to be mutually beneficial.  read more »

When you see trumpeter swans near Comox or spot a sandhill crane in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, you take them for granted as our birds, part of British Columbia's stunning natural endowment. Yet many sandhill cranes will fly south this fall, only to perish in the Gulf oil spill, as a recent story in The Vancouver Sun highlighted (Sandhill Cranes at Risk in the Gulf of Mexico, July 7).  read more »

Wow, Thursday's City Council agenda - we are looking to legalize jaywalking downtown, sterilize bunnies, promote public art, rezone a provincial water lot, do more pubic urinals, and control cruise ship emissions.  Thats just the morning!